Librarians Participate at State Conference

Librarians from H. M. Briggs Library recently participated in the South Dakota Library Association (SDLA) Annual Conference held in Aberdeen, SD, October 7-9.

Laura Wight, Information Literacy Librarian, and Elizabeth Fox, Digital Information Services Librarian, conducted a session entitled “A Virtual Librarian in Every Classroom.”  They featured a variety of ways to provide virtual library information services, including Meebo chat widgets on Web and courseware pages, social bookmarking, online tutorials, topic-specific Web guides, and Web conferencing.  For more information view the following Web site http://lib.sdstate.edu/wight/virtuallib.htm or contact Ms. Wight at laura.wight@sdstate.edu or 605-688-5955 or Ms. Fox at elizabeth.fox@sdstate.edu or 605-688-5569.

Mary Caspers-Graper, Head of Technical Services, presented a poster session at the conference entitled “Selecting E-Books” that focused on the decision making process of e-book selection.  The poster detailed different purchasing options, the advantages and disadvantages of each, and relating decisions to the needs of library patrons. 

Linda Kott, Information Services Librarian, also presented a poster session.  Ms. Kott’s selection, entitled, “Less is More:  Content Selection in Library Instruction” addressed librarians who often try to fit too much information into one-hour instruction sessions.  Strategies for focusing content included employing outcomes, student-centered learning, and active learning.  Ms. Kott included information from her recent attendance at the 2009 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Immersion Program for Teachers. 

David Gleim, Dean of Libraries, finished a year-long term of office as the Chair of SDLA’s Academic, Health Sciences, and Special Libraries Section.  Linda Kott finished a year-long term as Section Secretary and was elected to the Chair position for the next year.

Linda Kott

Information Services Librarian

Celebrate National Library Week 2008!

Members of the campus and community are cordially invited to attend the grand opening of the new Recent Fiction Collection at HM Briggs Library. The event is free and open to the public and will be held from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 17^th in the Reference Room on the Main Level of Briggs Library. This new browsable collection includes more than 1,600 recent fiction titles (with more to be added each year) and covers a wide variety of genres, from science fiction to mystery.

The grand opening of the Recent Fiction collection is part of the library’s broader celebration of National Library Week 2008. National Library Week will be observed April 13-19 with the theme, “Join the circle of knowledge @ your library.” Throughout the week, visitors to the library can view a National Library Week display and enter to win one of two $25 Barnes & Noble gift certificates to be given away during the Recent Fiction grand opening. The library also has a National Library Week Guide of the Month available online at: http://lib.sdstate.edu/GuideoftheMonth/natlib.htm .

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. It is a time to celebrate the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians and to promote library use and support. All types of libraries – school, public, academic and special – participate.

Special Recognition for First Library Director

During the Women of Distinction Awards Tea on March 11, special recognition was given to Nancy Van Doren, the first director of the SDSU Library.  Her commitment to education and service was instrumental in creating the library.  The SDSU Women’s Studies and Quest for Equity Committees sponsored the awards tea in conjunction with the celebration of Women’s History Month.  Mary Caspers-Graper read following statement to recognize the contributions of this outstanding woman: 

Ms. Nancy Van Doren — 124 years ago you arrived in Brookings to teach English at a tiny college with only one building called the Dakota Agricultural College.  You were our first preceptress, a position we know today as Dean of Women, and our first library director.  You are the only woman ever to hold that position. This is what historians have written about you:

·         You were born in 1842 in India, the daughter of Baptist missionaries.

·         At age 26 you graduated from the Owego Normal School in New York, now known as SUNY Oswego. 

·         After teaching in New York, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri, you joined the Dakota Agricultural College as the first salaried faculty member to be hired after George Lilley, the first president.  You were 42 years old.

·         You taught English grammar, composition and rhetoric for the amazing annual salary of $500. 

·         And in 1886 President Lilley asked you take charge of a small reading room on the second floor of Old Central.  In the room was a collection of about 1,000 volumes and 26 journals.  That was the beginnings of the Hilton M. Briggs Library.

·         Unfortunately your tenure at the tiny college was brief.   In 1891 you headed west to repeat your career as preceptress and librarian.  This time it was at Washington State College, which we know today as Washington State University in Pullman. Ms. Van Doren — historians have described you as a “sweet, intelligent, conscientious lady, whose life was a benediction to all the young women in whom she came in contact.”  Washington State University honored you with a building called Van Doren Hall, which is still standing.   At SDSU you had no honors, until today.    Ms. Van Doren — as we celebrate Women’s History Month and the 30th Anniversary of Briggs Library, we are proud to honor you as a “Woman of Distinction” and add your portrait to those of the seven former library directors at SDSU.   

Research notes courtesy of Ms. Lisa Lindell, Librarian and Professor, Hilton M. Briggs Library, SDSU

 

Briggs Library is Rearranging Itself!

If you have been in the Reference/Serials area on the main floor of Briggs Library over the past year or so, you may have noticed some empty shelves. We have planned for a long time to rearrange this area, and those plans are finally coming to fruition! Unfortunately, for the next week or so, it may be rather noisy and messy in the Reference/Serials area. Beginning Tuesday, January 29, 2008, books, magazines, journals and newspapers will be disappearing from the shelves and you will begin finding stacks of them on tables and the floor. On Friday, February 1, 2008, we will move the shelving that the magazines, journals and newspapers reside on as well as a number of other shelving units to give the area a new look and enhance its functionality. During the week of February 4^th we plan to reshelve all these materials in their new locations. During the process we will try to keep the inconvenience to a minimum, but we ask for your patience.

 The move will open up the area near the north windows, which will soon become a popular fiction collection and reading area.  It will also place the current magazines, journals and newspapers close to the Serials office where they are received and processed.

~Elizabeth Fox

Briggs Hosts an Evening Study Break

Anticipating a long week of studying? Worried about how you’re going to keep up your energy levels? Come to Briggs library for a quick pick-me-up with an array of delicious cookies and eye-opening coffee. Beginning Sunday, May 6 at 7:00pm in room 130 in the library there will be cookies and coffee for anyone in need a break. This event will continue Monday May 7 through Thursday May 10.

Recap:

Sunday, May 6 through Thursday, May 10, beginning at 7:00pm and ending when supplies run out, there will be cookies and coffee served in room 130 in Briggs library.

~Danielle Becker, Reference and Digital Services Librarian